Bending of square aluminium extrusions with aluminium foam filler

An experimental programme consisting of 24 tests was carried out to study the three-point-bending behavior of square AA6060 aluminium extrusions filled with aluminium foam under quasi-static loading conditions. The outer cross section width and span of the beams were kept constant at 80 mm and 800 mm, respectively. The main parameters investigated were the foam density, the extrusion wall strength and the extrusion wall thickness. The experiments showed that the foam filler significantly altered the local deformation pattern of the beams. Simple design formulae were developed in order to predict the load bearing capacity of the foam filled beams.